1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of dispensing apparatus, and more specifically to dispensing apparatus having means to insure that the contents, once removed, may not be reinserted.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Devices for dispensing a flexible material such as paper tape are known in the prior art. For example, the webb unwinding apparatus, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,957,638 to Schiller et al., discloses such a device which includes means to prevent the tape from being reinserted, once removed, by means of cooperating rollers to produce a wedging effect. While this structure would be effective to prevent accidental reinsertion of the tape, it would be ineffective to prohibit intentional reinsertion. In addition, the complex arrangement of springs, rollers and similar moving parts in the prior art apparatus make the structure difficult and costly to produce in quantity.
There are applications where it is critically important that a paper tape be used once and only once. To effectively guard against reuse of such a paper tape, it would be desirable that the paper tape be used immediately upon being withdrawn from its container, and thereafter destroyed. To effectively insure that the tape being withdrawn has never been used before, it is desirable to have a tape dispensing apparatus which prohibits the reinsertion, either accidentally or intentionally, of tape once removed. It is to this end that the present invention is directed.